Smith post #1 frank

The novel Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelly in 1831.  In the first seventy pages we learn what an obsessive curiosity in nature and science, as stretched to its outermost possibilities in the nineteenth century, can do to the humanity of an inventor by the name of Victor. Victor has a longing for a companion, a wish to create and innovate something of importance; a life purpose that will bring him pride and companionship. His longing, however, is neither healthy nor sane. Victor becomes obsessed in his pursuit and will not let it escape his mind for even a moment. “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest, or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage: but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature.” (33) This passage allows the reader access to an almost sympathetic character; a man who lets his days pass with no real sense of human enjoyment, for his mind becomes more and more narrowly defined by his experiment.  Not only does he not allow himself to enjoy other parts of his present life, he also shuts out a portion of his past and of his memory, especially the life of his family back home. Victor left home shortly after the death of his mother and while mourning her life he also admired the reactions of the girl the family had taken under their wing, a beautiful orphan by the name of Elizabeth. Victor fell in love this girl as she helped the family through the tragic death. “She indeed veiled her grief, and strove to act the comforter to us all. She looked steadily on life, and assumed its duties with courage and zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call her uncle and cousins. Never was she so enchanting as at this time, when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us. She forgot even her own regret in her endeavors to make us forget.” (24) The power of this quote is that is shows Victor’s capacity to love another human being.  We also feel his love when he describes the pain he feels at Elizabeth’s absence in his life. But he is a haunted man, torn between science and attachment.  This rupture in his soul is what provokes him to create through science, defying the laws of nature, a creature that he hopes will fulfill his longings.